Tasteless
by Cappucafe
Summary: Everyone in Fairy Tail carries with them an odd tale and Leila Spade was no different. Like everyone else, there are good times where she can relax. But she has a goal and target: To take down the serial wizard killer in Magnolia. Leila's obsession with the killer begins to stir uneasiness among other members who are more worried about what's become of her. Oc x Gray
1. Chapter 1

" _You have to go...please." Tears streamed down her face as she looked at the man across from her. She had long given up the fight that she had began and insisted upon. With bleeding and hollow heart, life began to slip away from her. "Please…_

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _._ _Just end this."_

"Look who's back!" Someone shouted as they pointed at the gate. Team Natsu were busy carrying wooden planks to their destination, on Erza's orders, and had been tired. They gladly took this chance to slack off and looked at the direction of the wide open gates of the Fairy Tail guild. A cloaked figure peeped through the door, with her cloak hiding her face, bowed then asked. "Do you know where the guild of Fairy Tail is? For some odd reason, I cannot find-"

"Leila!" Gray whistled and waved at the newcomer who looked up and squinted. She had tried denying the reality of the guild being completely destroyed but seeing a half naked Gray on top of the construction site made her groan in disappointment.

"What on earth happened here?" She asked Makarov, who was simply enjoying his pineapple star fruit punch. The old man sipped for a while before shrugging and replying carelessly: "The usual."

"Master has decided to escape reality so I will explain instead. But before that, welcome back, Leila." Mirajane hugged the figure before gently pulling down the hood, to reveal a pale skinned brown haired girl. An odd symbol consisting of a red diamond, swirls, and curves was located in the center of her forehead.

"It's been awhile." Leila nodded politely as Mirajane stroked her head like a pet. Mirajane nodded as tears brimmed her eyes before she clutched the ravenette. "Leila...I missed you so much! No one was here to stop the idiots...everything would have been more efficient and helpful if you were here…"

Leila sighed as she patted the girl's back before commenting: "You just missed my manpower, didn't you?" Mirajane wiped her tears away and smiled brightly. "Of course not! Welcome back!" She then genuinely gave the girl a warm hug. Leila glanced up with her maroon eyes at the building that was currently being reconstructed before she pulled off her cloak and held it out. Noticing this, both Gray and Erza began to shout orders, telling the guild members to move. Erza walked next to Leila while Gray watched from afar, whistling as the colour of Leila's black cloak slowly seeps down into the ground, leaving their container a brilliant white. Like a snake, the black blob began to slither into other item that were black before removing them from their holders. Slowly, the blob grew bigger and bigger until it began to spike it three dimensionally and wrap itself around wooden planks and lifting them onto the building.

Gray jumped off from where he was perched and reached out his hand, taking the cloak from Leila. The girl murmured a thanks and continued to hold her other hand out, making small motions. Though it was barely visible due to how thin it was stretched out, Leila's once black gloves now only had a small dot of black on it and it attached itself to the black shapeless two dimensional figure. It moved due to Leila's control and the girl walked closer to maneuver it better. As she had speedily structured and got rid of a pile of logs, she dropped her hand and the "black" slithered back to their original containers. Mirajane walked up to her and handed her an iced cup of cranberry juice.

"How was your trip this time? I heard this was supposed to be more of a relaxation vacation?" Erza asked the girl who sipped the juice and nodded. She took her sweet time to enjoy the refreshing mix of sour and sweet flavours before replying:

"I would have taken or asked you guys to come with me. But Natsu and Happy disappeared without a word and I thought perhaps it was a good time for me to achieve freed- isolation and independence." Leila stopped herself from saying she was a captive to the rowdy bunch and then fixed her wording. Gray caught on and rolled his eyes before smirking and giving her a fist bump. "Well you seem more excited to go on vacation by yourself."

"Mmm...souvenirs?" The girl asked as she handed Erza a pink package with different, small strawberry centered Ezra's eyes sparkled and her mouth drooled, Leila handed her a small pamphlet that contained the cake's recipes as well as the names for each one.

Leila then stared into Gray's eyes, as if contemplating about something before she was ready to pull out his gift. The boy was waiting expectantly until the pair were interrupted by an exceed and a dragonslayer. The ravenette leaned back to avoid being seared and burnt alive by the pink haired boy who offered a bone crushing hug.

"Welcome back!" Leila's already pale complexion, began to look chalky white and her line of sight placed themselves on Gray, pleading for him to help her. The boy then grabbed the dragonslayer by the head and ripped him away.

"Wha-? You wanna go Ice Princess?" Natsu pounded his fist, which lit themselves on fire. Gray stripped off his jacket and a chilly breeze escaped from him.

"Bring it on, Fire Breath."

"So, what happened? I'm sure it is not one of Natsu's and Gray's small brawls, right?" Leila watched the two roll over onto each other on the dirt, attempting to fight. As she just merely observed their fight, something she had not seen in a while and missed, Mirajane shamelessly brought up another topic.

"Ah, I see you haven't changed your love for gay love-" Mirajane was interrupted by Erza who blushed a deep shade of red and accused the white haired woman instead. "If you had not shown Leila your stash of yaoi, I do not think she would be as amused as she is now." Leila merely blinked and looked away from the men and gave Mirajane a disapproving shake of her head.

"You're wrong to think I would enjoy watching the two idiots _roll around together_ , though I do admire the homosexual relationships as it demonstrates their courage to declare their love and sexuality. But watching those two is as disturbing as watching Elfman singing 'Let it Go'-"

"Welcome back Leila and hey! I have a talent in singing!" Elfman roared across the construction sight as Leila rolled her eyes. Mirajane laughed and apologized to her younger brother. "Sorry Elfman, even I cannot defend you." This caused the male to whine in protest.

"Erza! Stop them!" A blonde girl, one that Leila did not recognize, appeared. She whined as she barely avoided all of their aggressive magic spells and ran towards them. Tears were brimming in her eyes as a desperate look hung in her eyes. She had large and pretty brown orbs, Leila noted, as well as a pretty face. Leila glanced back at Mirajane, quizzically while Erza stepped forward and knocked Gray and Natsu hard on the head.

"Ah! Well you see, our new member here, Lucy Heartfilia, had drawn attention to herself as she ran away from home. Let us just say her father was not very pleased and demanded for her to come home with extreme methods." Mirajane introduced the blonde, who seemed rather embarrassed by the unflattering introduction. She shyly dipped her head as she greeted Leila and apologized.

"Sometimes, children need to leave their home in order to grow as a person. If it was what made you a strong person, and if Fairy Tail is a home to you. I don't see why you should apologize for arriving at such a _fine_ place." Leila glanced at the construction site. She was slightly peeved to find her guild in such a disastrous state, who wouldn't? But she did not blame the girl because after all, Leila had problems of her own so who is she to judge another person's choice of actions. Besides, Lucy seemed to be ashamed herself and there was really no point to be mad at the newcomer. She stood up and removed her glove on her left hand and offered to shake her hand. Lucy looked surprised at first to see the girl's scar covered hand before she smiled warmly and the acceptance and acknowledgement she was receiving. Shaking her hand firmly Leila then gave Lucy a silver bracelet, with a blue gemstone that was incredibly small, but definitely noticeable.

"It isn't much since I did not anticipate a new member but count this as a souvenir. Charles has a keen eye for these treasures and I'm glad he picked it up. It would have looked bad on my part not to have anything for the new member." Leila motioned her now gloved left hand, and a raven appeared, perching on her fingertip. Lucy gratefully accepted her present and Charles merely tilted his head.

"Charles did not find it. Charles took it from a rich lady-" Immediately Leila flicked the bird in the head and shooed him off. Everyone silently stared at Leila who was seemingly having a migraine and writing ways to kill off her bird in her head. Gray finally spoke up, his voice cracked momentarily in amusement: "Did your little birdie just confess his crimes? But then again, that little rascal is often known to be a thief-"

"Here's your present." Leila threw several pairs of boxers at him and he cried out in surprise. He looked down at his present before a ticked off vein mark appeared on his head. "What? These are my presents?!" Lucy covered her eyes from embarrassment while Natsu laughed at his rival.

"A best friend is always looking out for their daily needs. You've stripped so many times that I'm sure the quantity of your boxer have been reduced in half. Do you remember that time where Natsu and I had to wait for you for half an hour just so you could find your boxers in the lake?" She then pulled out a box of rare, fire noodles from her bag and gave it to Natsu. "Limited edition fire noodles. I managed to get one before they ran out of stock." The pink haired dragonslayer's eyes lit up like a small universe as he held his bowl of noodles up, like Simba.

"Lastly for Mira, you get a new lacrima. I heard this one helps you choose what to wear and some new clothes stored in it." Leila bowled out a small globe and the white haired girl grinned brightly at her present. She stroked in, carefully and murmured "My precious~". The girl then noticed Leila staring at her expectantly and she smiled, a little sadly, as she realized what quiet mage wanted. Mirajane pulled out a newspaper, from yesterday and showed it to Leila.

"Fortunately, you were out of town while the murder happened, though it may be unfortunate for you. Yesterday, one of the Phantom Lord's members were assassinated in a hospital and well...there were no leads." Leila looked at it cooly before asking Mirajane: "Do you mind if I take it with me?"

"No...but I do prefer if you didn't. I don't want you to go finding the murderer yourself and-" Leila cutted her off and pulled up her hood. She waved goodbye to her fellow guild members as she pointed at her luggage. "I'm going back first to unpack. It was nice meeting you Lucy." As she left behind her friends and the conversation in a whir of moment, Lucy looked at her friends in slight confusion.

"Is something wrong?" She asked as she nervously fidgeted. She heard everything that flitted between Leila and Mirajane but she was unsure of what to make out of the word murderer. It's usually pretty easy to find a murderer but it seems that this was not an ordinary one.

"Ah, since you've just recently joined...you wouldn't know about Magnolia's serial killer." Mirajane glanced at where Leila left and then faced Lucy with a serious look. "We're fortunate that Fairy Tail has not had any casualties from the Mage Hunter, but we don't know who will be next."

"And Leila is always searching for the bastard. Even though guilds are prohibited from sending members out to search. But for now, we're safe since the serial killer seems to only kill once a month." Erza sighed as she leaned against the pillar with crossed arms.

"Why is Leila so adamant on finding him? Even if she finds him, isn't he too dangerous to face?" Lucy bit her lip, worried for the returned Fairy Tail member.

"You're probably expecting some sort of sob story or revenge filled background. But Leila simply loathes the idea of taking away someone's life, when you have no right to judge them. It also doesn't sit right with her because she detests those who run away from their responsibilities and commit the same faults. I'm not quite sure if that's all there is to it…" Erza replied and she shook her head. "Though I don't blame her for thinking that way. Everyone here feels the same but we don't want to lose someone when we know for sure that they won't survive the danger they face."

"I know that isn't all there is to her reasoning. To be honest, I'm expecting a sob story. I mean, isn't that most of Fairy Tail's youngest generation's life?" Natsu sniffed and rubbed his nose as he commented, being serious. Gray sighed before grunting in agreement. "I agree with flame breath for once." Everyone was quiet before Mirajane brightly asked:

"So...are we going to play detectives?"


	2. Chapter 2

_The member of the Phantom Lord laid on the bed, with his hands full of magazines of the hottest female mages in Magnolia. As he read an article on Fairy Tail's Amazonians, the Female Warriors: Mirajane, Erza, Evergreen, and Leila, he grimaced at the thought of now having a tarnished reputation. His eyes lingered on the darker themed girl, Leila, and the green fairy like woman, Evergreen, with slight puzzlement. He recalled seeing Titania and Mirajane, but not the other two. He shivered slightly as he wondered what will happen if these two had joined the fight. As he flipped a page, an article being more specific on Leila, a gust of wind came through the window. The injured mage, closed his eyes before opening them and saw a cloaked figure._

 _Ravens flocked around the figure and an arm reached out. On the arm were red patterns entwined around it, like a rose's thorns. It was eery and for some unknown reason, to the man, it was obviously not a tattoo, body paint , or anything created for the sake of decoration. He glanced up to stare at the figure and then a feeling of fear washed upon him. He was staring straight into beady red eyes and after he blinked, flocks of ravens covered the figure before swarming straight at him. Before he could do anything, the man looked down and realized, an arm has pierced through his chest. The last thing he saw, was his heart getting ripped out, and the ravens began to tear away at his remains._

↚ ❦—❦ ↛

Leila tossed her newspaper into the fire, where the makeshift stove was behind the bar counter. Mira pulled out the iced coffee on her tray and placed it in front of Leila, before passing on a tropical juice to Lucy. Mirajane then tossed the dark haired girl a disapproving stare as she sternly lectured: "The stove is meant for cooking, not for you to dump your trash, Leila!"

The ravenette barely looked at the white haired woman as she picked up her iced drink, nodded and then began sipping. Lucy chuckled, slightly nervous as she was still getting used to the quiet woman while Mira had a surrendered smile on her face. She suddenly straightened, as if remembering something important before she crupper her hands around her mouth, shouting:

"Hihi everyone! Jobs are finally open and even though it is a temporary counter, you can do all the jobs you can~" Everyone jumped in excitement and rushed to the newly opened request board, even the "minor character" as Leila liked to describe them, were flocking towards the board.

"What is with them? Usually they just hang around not taking any jobs." Lucy sighed in exasperation as she rested her head in her followed the gaze of her two companions before Lucy spoke again and asked: "Oh! Where's Loke? I haven't seen him around." Leila and Mirajane glanced at each other before Mirajane's cheeks flushed in a tint of pink as she swooned at what she thought may be Lucy's bud of love for Loke. Leila's mouth lets go of the straw from her coffee and she replied to the blonde in a stern but slightly worried tone: "Loke is going to shatter your heart, Lucy. I don't think he is a good choice of...partnership."

Lucy blushed and immediately shook her head at the assumptions of her two colleagues before pulling out her key holder and smiling. "It's not like that! I heard that he was the one who found my keys so I wanted to thank him personally."

"Oh alright! I'll let him know when I see him." Mirajane hummed as Leila stared at her. She closed her eyes and stated her observation, noting that Mira was disappointed to have any juicy gossips. She then pointed at her keys with a slightly curious gaze and asked the Celestial Mage: "So? Were your spirits mad? I do think that some spirits make quite the fuss." The blonde clutched her butt while shaking, recalling some traumatic and violent memories of a certain zodiac. Gray and Happy appeared, with suggestions of sexual harassment and Lucy gritted her teeth, telling them off. Natsu walked up to his blue exceed and with his fire surrounding his fists, while suggesting something more sadistic, rather than sexual harassment. Leila gave the girl a sympathetic look in condolences before Natsu got attacked by a flying barrel, caused by Erza's anger.

Team Natsu turned over their shoulders to see why their redhead Titania was so angered. A sigh escaped Leila as she noticed it was Laxus and his usual, arrogant ego. Her coffee was drained clean, leaving slightly melted ice cubes in the cup and when the male continued with his insulting comments, she threw her coffee cup at him. Laxus, of course, dodged it and the crowd watched her cup hit the ground and spill its contents. Laxus turned his attention towards Leila and an irritated smirk crawled up his face. "I will get rid of anyone who opposes me, including you Leila."

"Take your ideas somewhere else, Laxus. No one here cares anymore about what had happened and you and I both have no right to judge and blame what happened because neither of us were here." Leila retorted in a calm manner as Laxus shot a strike of electricity towards her. Her eyes widened as she dodged the attack, only leaving a small cut against her cheek before Laxus cackled and disappeared.

"Tsk!" Natsu clenched his fists next to an Erza who was taking time to calm down. Gray glanced at Leila who was wiping the blood on her cheek with the back of her hand. "Need a bandage?"

"No. It'll be okay if I just leave it." Leila shook her head and then stood up. She patted Lucy on the back reassuringly before pulling on her gloves. Walking over to the Erza and Natsu, she tugged on their arm and with a soothing voice, told them to quell their rage because it was pointless. Erza smiled in agreement before she asked them if they wanted to go on a job together.

"Of course, with Gray and Lucy too. I have a sense that our team will be quite extraordinary. I got quite the positive feelings about us after the Eisenwald incident." Erza then wrapped her arms around Leila who felt a bead of cold sweat trickled down the side of her cheek. "And now, with Leila back, we can form a team of five. Or six, if you count Happy." The woman nodded at the blue exceed her grinned.

"I've always worked alone or just with Gray, or the max people of three when it was you, Mira, and I. A team of six is quite…" Leila trailed off to see how happy the rest was.

"But...would you like someone like me on the team?" Lucy dropped her head, obviously still sensitive about how Laxus pointed out that she was at fault for the Phantom Lord attack. Natsu leaned forward and pumped his fist up, grinning at the blonde as he proclaimed that their team needed someone like Lucy. Leila noticed how everyone cheered about the new formation of the official strongest team and Erza peered down at the ravenette who was breathing with a bit of difficulty from being headlocked by her. "So? Are you still going to quit?"

"...No." Leila sighed before her already pale face, began to lose colour and turn slightly purple from the lack of oxygen. Mirajane noticed and pointed to Erza that their friend is possibly going to die from her. After being freed and apologized to, Leila rubbed her neck and Erza cleared her throat, getting the attention of her newly formed team. "Now now! Let us hurry and take a job. We'll take down the Magic Sect operating in the shadows of the castle town of Lupinus. Let's go!" Everyone cheered and Leila weakly raised her arms with an arched eyebrow.

After a day, Lucy and Leila found themselves back at the bar in Fairy Tail and Leila drank her usual coffee. Both she and Mirajane listened to Lucy complain about the jobs and not being able to rent and her coffee went down the wrong side as Lucy complained about her too. "Leilaaaa, I thought you would do no damage and be more reasonable but you left so many holes in the buildings that some of them collapsed! And Charles just went around stealing from shops!" Lucy cried and Leila looked away, guilt written across her face. Mirajane chuckled and suggested a job offer for the girls and winked at how safe it will be from destruction.

↚ ❦—❦ ↛

"Hmm...so this was your first team effort was located." Leila observed the station as Lucy explained to the others of the details of their new job: Using magic to attract lots of people to see a play. The group had stepped off of the train at Onibas, which had recovered and continues to flourish after the Lullaby incident. The floor was made o reflective marble and the walls complemented the ground with a creamy colour. The group barely glanced at their dragonslayer companion and left him, leaving him on the ground and suffering his intense motion sickness by himself. Heartless, but really, there was nothing they could do.

They strolled along the cobblestone path and the group listened to the intense passion Lucy had for novel writing and playwright. Leila scratched her cheeks as she marvelled at the woman's ideals for her future and the hobbies she had. Leila was quite the opposite of her as she wasn't sure what she wanted to do with her life. Looking far ahead and thinking about the future and consequences was never a strong point for her. Shortly after, the group arrived at a very grand building. The building had large white columns supporting it and the roof had flourishes and beautiful gold engravings. Lucy's eyes sparkled and Leila's eyes winced at the brightness

"Um… You are the people from Fairy Tail, right?" A small man peered around the column, in a timid way. Leila and Gray exchanged glances as Lucy cheerfully said "hi". They both expected their client to be more...flamboyant and charismatic. But the way he was acting seemed to make him small and even doubtful of himself.

"Thank you for accepting my request! However...we have a bit of a problem." The group gave him a quizzical look as he led the group inside. The walls were empty and it was quiet inside the theater with nothing but the sounds of the wizards' shoes tapping against the wooden planks, with occasional creaking. As they all entered the dressing room and took a seat, their client explained the problem.

"Ehhhh? The actors have all left?" Lucy cried in disbelief.

"Yes...my plays have grown unpopular and all the actors are ashamed to work for me. Even my wife was tired of me chasing my dreams and left me! This is my last chance, thank you so very much!" The man cried and Leila sighed, resting her head on her arms. Things were going great for them since the beginning.

"Anyways, the play is cancelled...Thank you so very much!" The man began to have waterfalls leak from his eyes but Erza merely smirked. She then chuckled and Leila felt energy slip from herself as she knew what Erza was going to propose. And she did not like it one bit but no one can change her mind once she is set on something. The female warrior stood up and with sparkles in her eyes, she proclaimed: "If you need actors, then you've got some right here!"

The group then faced their client and Leila spoke up while she allowed Charles to fly around the room. "Well...why don't we give your theater one last chance?" Gray grinned and added: "We won't let your dreams end here!"

"You guys….well. Might as well let them give it a shot. Damn amateurs." The client looked away, obviously not very impressed with their suggestion. Natsu and Lucy looked unamused while Gray commented: "Now you don't say thank you?" Without too much of a choice, the group then looked at each other and nodded.

Team Natsu spent a week practicing with singing, dancing, and acting. Lucy was obviously the Princess, Erza and Gray were the two princes fighting for her love, Natsu was the dragon, and Leila was the witch. What a surprise. Initially, the group tried to persuade her to be more evil and cackle like how a woman planning the destruction of the world would. But eventually, they decided that a emotionless and heartless woman would be easier to play and more convincing on Leila's part. Friends and acquaintances had even visited before their performance to wish them all luck and Mirajane even came with a cup of coffee for her. For some, specifically Lucy, it was exhausting and made them cry a bit on the inside, but for others, they were grateful for the people to come visit them.

The rehearsals were merciless and only Leila and Natsu were not tired. They had less lines and their characters were quite similar to their own nature. Leila only had to control the Gray and attempt to kill off Erza, as her goal. She was supposed to grant the Prince power in exchange for the kill and it was a win win situation. Of course, like all fairy tales, Leila will be defeated and Lucy and Erza will live happily ever after.

Finally, the day came and people filed into the seats. The guests murmured to one another in excitement. Leila looked at the mirror, trying to adjust her black witch hat before pulling on her dress. It was uncomfortably figure hugging and long that she had no doubt she will trip on this in some point of the play. She grabbed a black wand and walked to the backstage to join the others. Their client walked on stage, making a small speech and introduction before the curtains were pulled apart revealing Lyra. She began to sing in a beautiful voice, telling the prologue of the story before Erza appeared.

And immediately there was a problem.

Erza was frozen stiff and her legs were trembling from stage fright. The group gasped and Leila grasped her head, groaning that they were already off script. Gray and Lucy jumped the stage to save her and for a very confused moment, Erza was trapped in a clock, taking time to regain her energy. There was a short dialogue between Gray and Lucy before Erza recovered and stepped out of the clock. She then nervously summoned ten swords and encircled Gray. At this, the Ice mage squealed in horror and ran off, earning a very unimpressed look from Leila. "What? This was the only way I could think of moving the story along."

"Yeh will get back out there. Erza is proposing for 30 babies." Leila pushed Gray back out as he then summoned Natsu , who oddly, decided to attack Gray as well. Leila groaned and stepped onto the stage waving her black wand around.

"He's no longer your dragon, Prince. Now, I will take over both of your kingdoms by destroying all three of you!" Leila raised her wand, staying clear from Natsu's random fire spitting. The black colour drained from her dress and hat, forming a deformed monster that hissed at Erza, Gray, and Lucy. Natsu roared in agreement as he shouted: "We will roast y'all!"

Lucy stood in front of the two princes and shouted: "You two, run! I will take care of it!"

"What the hell are you doing, Princess?" Someone shouted from the crowd as Leila waited for the others to do something before she actually attacks them. "Thanks a bunch!" Gray and Erza ran off and with irritation, Leila pointed her wand at Lucy: "What a bunch of cowards. This will be the end of you." Her black magic dropped back into swirls and lunged at Lucy, but did not reach her for Happy had dropped Dragon Natsu on top of the black. The colour rushed back to its original containers and Leila and Lucy cried for help.

Immediately, things got hectic. Natsu began to spit fire everywhere, Lucy's dress was caught on fire, Erza basically sliced away at her dress and gave her a cloak, Gray used ice to target Natsu, Leila used her black magic to pull away flying debris that might hit the audience and then used it to grab onto the three fighting mages to make them stop, and finally, the theater collapsed.

It became an open theater and in the end, the crowd cheered. Lucy was rescued and married to Erza while Natsu was slain. Leila and Gray were defeated by Erza and cue the end of the play.

"Bravo bravo!" The crowd cheered and the for the next three days, the play repeated and the whole crew was except for Erza. Tickets were sold out and their clients' whole demeanour even changed. The plot in the play itself sometimes changed as well, for example, Leila being extremely peeved and exhausted at the whole situation that she takes out all of the characters, or sometimes Erza is defeated and Lucy and Gray elopes, etc.

"I think our job before this was better." Leila gave Lucy a look and the blonde laughed nervously.

"At least we're getting paid."


	3. Chapter 3

Leila pulled her cloak over head furthermore as she adjusted her sunglasses. "Point to Erza. Erza wins. " She pointed at her red haired teammate before recoiling her hand to prevent more interaction with the sun's UV rays. Team Natsu was currently at a beach resort, a free trip brought to them by Loki. She very much disliked the burning feeling of the sun so she decided to be the referee to Erza's and Gray's volleyball game. The woman who won the game crossed her arms in triumph as she smirked at Gray. Gray wiped the sweat from his forehead as he glowered at her in defeat.

"Leila, are you sure you don't want to play?" The dark haired man looked over at her. Clearly, winning was a necessity for him and now that he lost to Erza, he was craving victory. Leila shook her head as she glanced over at where the sun was setting. She then looked back at them and mustered a small smile while gesturing with her hands. "I feel like going for a drink. The resort has some special tropical alcohol."

Gray and Erza chuckled and gave her a hopeless laugh. Of course she wants to go drinking. Gray then rested his chin on his hand before shouting at Natsu who was pushing Lucy around on a water floater. "Hey Natsu! Do you feel like winning some games at the casino tonight?" The salmon haired man looked at Gray and unintentionally lets go of Lucy. He smirked and said: "Bring it."

Lucy unfortunately, did not share either men's excitement. She was now drifting further and further from the shoreline and thus, it caused her to scream at Natsu. Natsu sighed as he plugged his ears before waddling and eventually swimming towards the Celestial mage. Erza grinned and shouted to them: "We'll go get ready first."

As the three returned to their own suites, Erza sat on the other side of the room, on the other bed as she watched Leila unpack her luggage, looking for some formal wear. "You're not going to change?" The raven haired woman asked as she pulled out a black jumpsuit and glanced at it from an angle in the mirror before deciding to change into it. It was, of course, all black, and there was a V neck plunge for the collar. It was rather simple design, something that she preferred.

"I have it as part of my requip magic." Erza reassured her before staring at herself in the mirror. Leila whistled for Charles before he dropped a pair of earrings in her hands. She then placed them into her earrings as she looked into the mirror. From the corner of the mirror she watched Erza change into her armour. Leila turned around and asked Erza: "Aren't you going to change?"

Seemingly contemplating over something, Erza then used her magic to change into an elegant purple dress matched with accessories and shoes. She then smiled to herself as she examined her look in the mirror and Leila, who was originally going to ask what caused the usually attentive redhead to stay in a daze, not say anything. The door then burst open and Lucy waved at them. "Come on! The boys are already group proceeded downstairs to a wonderland filled with amusement parks, games, and bars. Leila was going to head to the bar but Gray waved her over. Much to her own displeasure, she obediently wandered over like a mutt. Her best friend was playing poker, a game she never really understood. He dealt with the cards swiftly and picked up his deck, grinning. She could easily guess why he called her over.

"I don't intend on learning gambling." Leila rested her arm on his head, staring at his cards and being unable to make any sense of them. Gray laughed and tossed his chosen cards. He glanced up with a crooked grin, asking her if she was certain. Leila ruffled his hair and left him. Heading immediately went for the bar, she demanded the Tropical Breeze Cocktail. The bartender was a dashing fellow and he received quite the admirers as mixed up the drinks. Leila was also quite entranced by the man and soon enough they engaged in a conversation. However they were about quite the oddest things for a place in a beach resort: Dark poetry.

Soon enough, they were joined in by Gray and a surprise guest: Juvia from Phantom. Leila nodded politely at the blue haired woman before asking Gray: "Found a beach resort fling?" Gray laughed awkwardly before saying the situation was more complicated than that and that Juvia was, how should he say it, probably one of the reason why his and Leila's guild is in shambles right now. Immediately Leila stiffened and awkwardly nodded in greeting again. Juvia looked away from her gaze, guiltily, before Leila sighed and took another shot from her Tropical Breeze Cocktail and waved her hand, brushing the topic off. "I wasn't even there to do anything so don't worry your blue head." She asked for another cup.

"Gray Fullbuster?" A voice appeared from behind them, which was deep and Leila found herself intrigued. She glanced at the owner of the voice then at Gray and before she could show more interest in asking if Gray had gotten himself a man for a romantic fling, the man then worded her full name: "Leila Spade?" The two fairies exchanged look and before either of them could say anything, an explosion was set off.

The three mages landed among the debris of the broken bar and Leila winced slightly as she received some bruises before looking in disappointment at her glass of alcohol. Her partner was alright but as she peered around him to glance at Juvia, she then asked Gray: "It's safe to assume he's hostile, correct?"

Gray nodded then glowered at their attacker. "Who the hell are you?" Their attacker looked at both Fairies before his eye narrowed and he asked: "Where's Erza?"

"What?" Gray demanded before Leila frowned. "If you immediately attack us once you've identified her affiliates, I don't plan on leaking her whereabouts." Leila steadied both her and Gray up before they took on a defensive stance. Juvia immediately acted defensively in front of them and Leila shot Gray a confused look. "You're saying _she_ attacked and destroyed our guild."

"People change, Leila." Gray watched attentively as their attacker looked up, as if focusing on something us. Leila looked at Gray up and down before listening in concern as she overheard the enemy saying they found Erza. "Doesn't seem like that with you and Natsu."

Immediately the whole room turned black. Her marron eyes glowed but before she could use her magic, she felt water envelope itself around her and before she could struggle or anything she was enveloped by water completely. Juvia's voice immediately offered reassurance and Leila merely closed her eyes, waiting for herself to be freed after.

Moments passed and soon, her, Gray, and Juvia found themselves in the surface world. Lucy ran to them as she smiled in relief of their safety while Leila whistled for Charles. As Juvia continued to mock Lucy and bragged about how she protected Gray, Gray immediately shot her down by showing how displeased he was because he wasn't able to take down the enemy. He ended up lashing out at Juvia and Leila mentioned him to stop. After all, the woman was acting out to protect them. "How's Natsu and the rest?"

"I don't know about Natsu but Happy and Erza were…" Lucy drifted off and Charles took the opportunity to answer instead. "Taken. Caw. Flame breath is alive caw." Leila dug into her pockets and luckily found sunflower seeds. She fed one to Charles before stroking his head and asking: "What else happened?"

"Four caw caw. Four attackers." Leila glanced at Lucy, to see if the woman knew any of this. The blonde quickly recalled what happened and nodded reluctantly. Leila then brought her finger to her chin, thinking where she had last saw Natsu. "When did you all see Na-" She was cut off and not too far from them, did a column of fire rise up into the air and a whiny voice was heard. "Never mind."

Everyone rushed to the source of noise and Gray immediately asked him what happened. Natsu complained about how it hurts to get shot in the mouth and everyone immediately sighed, wondering if it ever occurred to the dragonslayer that most people would have died if they were in his situation. THey then followed Natsu, who ran off in anger to pursue their attackers.

"Well isn't this great, we're running across a sandy beach in heels." Leila commented sarcastically as she continued running after Natsu. As she hopped and took off her heels, she bumped into Natsu who sniffed and immediately sulked. Everyone panted and followed his gaze of direction, which was into and beyond the sea. Leila looked at the boat in front of them and climbed in. She looked around, seeing if they had any oars or at least if it was lacrima powered.

The group drifted into the sea and their reliance on Natsu slowly showed them that this was an unfortunate situation. They were in the open ocean with no resources or land in sight. They cannot turn back but Natsu was taken over by motion sickness.

Leila stared into the waters, finding interest in the cold dark waters of the ocean while Gray's temper shortened, Lucy's uneasiness rose, and Natsu's seasickness increased. They were all hanging from the last straw called patience. Not soon enough their environment changed, with living creatures dead and broken debris of naval ships scattered everywhere. Even the birds in the sky began to drop down dead and everyone got on edge.

"Look." Lucy pointed at an eerie tower that appeared in the far distant. Leila marvelled at the structure before murmuring to herself: "Hello darkness."

Juvia began to elevate the water around them and used it as camouflage to drift them closer until they reached land. The group looked around them cautiously before they climbed up the steps on the side of the canyon. The place was heavily guarded and Juvia emerged from the water once again. She then wrapped an air bubble around them before leading them to an underwater entrance. Unfortunately they were discovered right away. Leila sighed as they launched a full on attack.

Leila landed in the center of a group of armed men and she raised her right hand, draining the colour black from her dress. It liquified before solidifying into a monstrous, shapeless figure. It was able to intimidate her opponents and immediately, she sharpened it into numerous spikes as it pierced through the soldiers. Strangely, after they eliminated the soldiers, a gate opened and allowed them to move up.

A feast was available for them as they reached a dining room and the boys did not hesitate to dive in. Leila wrung out the water from her clothes and stood near Natsu in order to have the water evaporate faster since the man was basically a human heater. A brief moment of relaxation followed them before they were swarmed with soldiers again. Only this time, Erza came to their rescue.

Erza looked shocked to see them, and she even looked as if it was a nightmare for her to be seen in a place like this. She shouted for them to leave but Natsu strongly objected. He demanded where Happy was and Erza looked perplexed before realizing that she was not the only one kidnapped. "I'm not sure where he is-"

Natsu immediately dashed off to search for his exceed and left the group behind. Erza raised her hand, attempting to call him back but the man disappeared immediately. "Well, let's go too!" Lucy hyped everyone up but they were blocked by Erza's sword.

"No. I will take the responsibility to bring them back. This is a personal matter and I won't involve any of you." Erza turned her back on them and she began walking away.

"It's our problem already." Gray shouted before calming down. Leila grabbed Erza's wrist and she said: "It's too late for us to turn anyways. It's okay if Queen Titania is scared sometimes too." Erza turned around with tears in her eyes before she hugged Leila. Afterwards, she was released by Leila and apologized. "It doesn't matter what you do now. I will perish from this world eventually anyways. That's why I will tell you about this tower."

She explained about her past, about the tower, and Jellal.


	4. Chapter 4

Leila and the others had turned into a dark corridor, blindly searching in the direction that Natsu had left. The group was accompanied by Sho and Simon, who had joined them earlier after Erza's story. Obviously, Sho didn't want to believe in the truth. He's worked for Jella for 8 years and just considering the fact that everything has gone to waste, made him feel devastated. Simon came in later during the scene, to convince and confirm Erza's story. Now, they were trying to find Natsu. As the others headed forward, Leila stopped and crouched down, examining the drawings and felt the walls before regrouping with the others.

"So? Are you able to use them?" Gray asked, knowing exactly what she was looking for. Leila nodded, to confirm that the paint used for the line work of the paintings was black paint. That means that if anything happens, she can drag out the black pigment. Suddenly, mouths appeared from the walls and ceilings of the tower. All at once they said: "I'd like to welcome you all to the Tower of Heaven."

Leila flinched, which caused her to pull out the black paint from the walls to smother the lips closest to her. The other mouths continued to talk: "I'm Jellal. The keeper of this tower. I see we have all our game pieces now. So I'd say it's time to start. Let us begin Heaven's game! Rules are simple. I intend to sacrifice Erza in order to revive Zeref. In other words, if the gates of Heaven open then I if you people manage to stop me then you win. Still...if it was that simple, it wouldn't be fun. So I provided three knights. You cannot reach me without going through them. In other words, this is a three versus seven battle royale. Finally, allow me to explain one extra special rule. There is avery real chance that the Council will attack this tower with A satellite square. That would be their extremely effective wide-area destruction magic, Etherion. There's no telling how much time we have left but the moment Etherion comes down everyone will die. Now, let's enjoy our little game."

Sho pulled out a card and trapped Erza within it. Immediately, Leila used the black paint to restrain Sho and even had one shaped into a dagger, which was pressed against his throat, already drawing blood. "Let go of her."

"Sho! What are you doing? Black wizard, let him go." Simon tried to calm the situation down.

"Nobody is going to lay a finger on Sis. I will take Jellal out myself." Sho glowered at Leila. Gray placed a hand on Leila's arm, while warily staring at Sho. "If you hurt him, there's a possibility that Erza may just stay in that card forever. Retreat for now."

"..." Leila clicked her tongue and retracted her magic, which led to Sho dashing off. Simon then chased after the boy. "Wait! SHo, you're no match for him! Dammit...I'll go after him, you guys search for Natsu."

"Argh! Why does everybody do this?!" Gray screamed in frustration while Leila looked at him, in a way that makes her seem like she thinks that Gray was pathetic. She then closed her eyes, lifted her arms, lifting off all the black colour from the paint, her cloak and dress. "I'm worried about Erza. I'll go after both of them. I don't trust that Sho's capabilities at all. If he ends up bringing harm to Erza, I'll get rid of him." Leila sent the black ahead, they all moved as if they were multiple arms stretching from one point, the black on her gloves.

"Wait, I'll come with you. Don't do anything irrational Leila. The two of you search for Natsu." Gray nodded at Juvia and Lucy before following the Ravenette.

"It's not irrational. Sho is the one who is. Clearly, if this Jellal is capable of manipulating him into 8 years worth of work then he's utterly useless. And by rendering Erza like that, she isn't even capable of defending herself." Leila knitted her brows. Gray sighed and then gave her a tip. "Don't work yourself over this too much though. We'll take down Jellal, bring Erza back and everything will be okay."

"Can knocking Sho out be included? No killing I swear." Leila raised the arm that she was controlling, showing that she surrender and promises.

"Yes. I plan on giving him a piece of my mind-" Leila then stopped them. "There's magical interference. Something's up ahead."

They rushed out to see Simon knocked down to the ground along with Happy. Leila used her magic to pick the two up, but not before coldly interrogating Simon. "Where's Erza?"

"I-i was interfered."

"Gray...Leila...Natsu was eaten. By that guy over there…" Happy teared up while pointing at an owl man. Leila set the two aside before all of the black magic reared up behind her, splitting into multiple arms with sharp tips. Gray clenched his teeth and shouted at the owl. "Do you have any idea what you just did by eating that burning turd?!"

"Doesn't matter Gray, just skewer this one." Leila signalled slicing the owl in half. Gray had already began to position his hands to start his ice make magic. "Already on it. Ice make Lance!" The owl then huffed out Natsu's power and blew out a large flame, melting and surrounding Gray. Gray froze the fire after several seconds while smirking. "Natsu's fire? Don't make me laugh you damn fake."

"Hoo-hoo. That is some terrific magic! I'll just eat you too!" THe owl opened his mouth but just before he could reach gray, Leila restrained him by wrapping black all around his body and strapping him onto the ground. As he struggled, Leila stabbed one of the black spikes down into his arm and into the ground, pinning him. As she got closure, the straps thickened.

"Hands off." Leila threatened quietly. She turned around and saw Gray, still extremely angered and fuming. She lifted the owl into the air and gave a small smile. "Want the last one? I took it last time we went on a job together."

"Thanks Leila. Ice Blade: Seven slice Dance!" As Gray struck the owl, Leila released the magic, and all of the black fell onto the ground, slithering back to their original containers. The owl man threw up Natsu and laid down on the ground, motionless. Leila patted Gray on the back, but the man was injured to the point where it stung. Leila sighed as she then have Gray's arm slung around her and she helped support him. "Time to regroup for now. Natsu and Simon will find Erza. Happy, you're coming with us too." She helped the blue cat to rest on her head, as she then guided the two back where they came from and to meet up with the others. The moment they got back together with the others however, the building collapsed and they were cast out into the sea. Juvia sheltered all of them and they managed to stay afloat.

"Erza!" Leila shouted, fear within her eyes. Gray, Erza, and Mira were the closest friends she had, even within the guild. She would spend majority of the time with any of the three. Erza reached out to her when she first joined and Leila remembered clearly, how difficult it was for Erza to give away her entire strawberry cheesecake that she had just bought down on the street from the newest bakery.

"Let me go after her." Leila stood up and passed Charles to Gray. Juvia looked hesitant and Gray grabbed onto her. "Don't do it Juvia. Leila, listen to me. I hate that I can't do anything right now but if you run in now, you're just sending yourself to hell. Believe in Natsu and Erza. They're one of the strongest wizards right? Erza, Mira, and you've trained together closely before. Trust them."

Gray paused, waiting for Leila's response, hoping that she'll be persuaded. Leila sighed and looked at Juvia. "Once it calms down, or if something big happens. Let me go."

"You-"

"It's called a compromise." They all sat down in the bubble, waiting anxiously to see what will happen, until a large tornado of magic flew up, after the lacrima tower collapsed. They tumbled within the magic barrier, as there were enormous waves pressing away from the tower. Juvia gritted her teeth as she tried to get closer to the tower. Once the pillar disappeared, the water calmed down and Juvia cautiously brought them to the shore, where they saw Natsu carrying Erza. Everyone immediately ran towards the red haired woman and Leila hugged the woman tightly. "If you hide anything from me again I'll make sure to tie you down to the guild literally."

"...It won't happen again." Tears fell down from Erza as Leila gave her an exasperated smile. Gray saw and jokingingly blanched. "Ew..Leila's smiling."

"Go drown yourself."Leila coughed.

—

" _I'm Erza Scarlet and this is Gray Fullbuster. What's your name?" The two wizards sat next to the thin newcomer. She blinked at them blankly, while replying very slowly: "Leila. Leila Spade."_

" _Haha. Doesn't seem like she likes you, Erza." Mirajane tossed her hair before slapping her hand down on the table and haughtily pointed at herself. "The name's Mirajane Strauss. I'm free to spar anytime, though i don't think you can defeat me."_

" _..."_

" _Here….Do you want some strawberry c-cheesecake?" Erza was shaking as she offered the cake. Leila watched as Gray and Natsu, who appeared from behind, applaud her for taking a large step forward. Who are these dumbasses? As Erza coughed and covered her embarrassment, she reached her hand out. "Welcome to our guild!"_

" _You can think of us family." Gray grinned._

" _...Does being 'family' mean I have to watch you walk around in your underwear?"_

" _Ah!"_


End file.
